whispers in the dark
by Azureroses
Summary: When Joey has trouble sleeping at night after all the abuse, who'll be there to see him through the darkness? A tribute to Joey/ryou pairing that I have only seen once; and to skillet's awesomeness. NOT A ONESHOT!Ryou/Joey pairing; yaoi3
1. Chapter 1

Whispers in the Dark

Summary: When Joey has trouble sleeping at night after all the abuse, who'll be there to see him through the darkness? A tribute to Joey/ryou pairing that I have only seen once, and to skillet's awesomeness. NOT A ONESHOT; MULTIPLE CHAPPIES! -

"Nyeh, I'll see you guys later okay?" Joey waved half-heartedly as he crossed the street away from his friends and towards his run-down looking apartment. Although he would never admit it to Tea, Yugi, or Tristan, Joey was secretly dreading coming home today. Part of it had to do with the fact that the daily beatings he was getting from his dad, which seemed to be getting worse and worse each time he came home. Joey thought back to yesterday's abuse, wondering if it had left him with any marks, but then again when didn't it? Gingerly, he lifted up the sleeve on his right arm to view the damage. 'Yup,' he winced slightly, taking in the swelling and redness of the obvious slash marks that went around his whole wrist and onto the tip of his index finger. 'Damn dat bastard', he thought angrily, 'I hope dat he gets ran over by a freakin' train for all I care.' He was lucky that the rest of the gang hadn't noticed the cut; he was running out of excuses to why he was showing up to school with so many bruises and scars. Although he had learned his lesson to hide everything effectively, if he didn't he might get a repeat of what happened last week. The last time Tea had seen the purple welt on his ribs, it took almost two weeks before she had finally stopped her inquisition/interrogation. And frankly, two weeks of Tea questioning him nonstop was more than a little annoying. Hell, it was barely bearable; there were times when he just wanted to bash her head into a locker and leave her there. Joey laughed as he thought about that image actually happening. 'Fat chance,' he thought to himself. He felt his mood return back to its former somberness, he really didn't want to face his dad. But he knew better than delay his return home, last time he'd tried it, it had earned him a black eye and a fractured rib; which was a lot harder to cover up than a couple of bruises and cuts. Reluctantly Joey made his way up the gray stone steps that wound up to the "doorway to hell" as he liked to call it. He took a minute to mentally prepare himself for what he knew was awaiting him on the other side. "Here we go again," he muttered softly to himself before he turned towards the fiendish door. Hesitantly, he reached down to turn the doorknob, coming face to face with the nightmarish demon that plagued his life for the past 17 years. Drunkenly waiting for his son by the door was none other than Steve Jounouchi, and he looked seriously pissed…

Ryou Bakura wasn't like all the other kids who went to Domino High, in fact, he was probably the least noticed student who attended the school. It wasn't like he was _trying_ to stay invisible to the student body and teachers; in fact, his whole persona screamed out "notice me!" From his outlandish, foreign long white hair to his soft, comforting, and gentle British accent; nothing about Ryou was normal or ordinary. But it wasn't like anyone ever noticed that, no one cared or paid the slightest bit of attention to him, not even his own friends. Sure, at first he was content being the wallflower of the group, it was hard to make friends in the first place, so he was grateful to have a place to fit in. However as time began to pass, Ryou realized exactly how hard it was to make a name for himself when he had to compete with Tea's friendship speeches, Yugi's selflessness, Tristan's physical and emotional strength, or even Joey's undeniable loyalty and bravery. How could he even possibly dream of being able to stand out in a group of people who exuded confidence and were so sure of who they were, when he didn't understand the first thing about himself? 'I feel like such a wanker,' he told himself inwardly while he closed the door to his house and turned the lock. Even though he didn't live alone, it was almost like it wouldn't have made a difference if he did. His dad was always gone, he was an archeologist after all, so that left Ryou home alone 362 days of the year. 'At least he has the time to come back for Christmas, Father's Day, and my birthday,' Ryou grimaced, trying to sound optimistic.

Usually the realization that he missed his dad didn't kick in until the day after he left. Those were the hardest to deal with, the days that he hated the most. He would spend 24 hours doing nothing but moping around the house and sometimes even crying; anything to deal with the pain that bit away at his heart. But there was really nothing else to do, what, was he going to just blatantly tell his dad that he wanted him to simply up and leave his job and stay home forever? "I could never do that to dad, he loves his job too much. And I just want him to be happy," Ryou whispered, feeling the corners of his eyes starting to water. He quickly grasped onto the edge of the granite countertop to steady himself. Willing his breathing to return to its normal pace, Ryou sat out the wave of panic that overwhelmed his body. This was exactly the reason why Ryou never mentioned his dad, not to his friends, and not to anyone else, he always felt the need to have a good cry at the most inconvenient moments. Shuffling upstairs, he quietly made his way up to his room at the end of the hallway and settled down on his bed, wishing he could just sleep it all away.

~End of chapter one~

Okay so what do you guys think? I really do wish there were a lot more ryou/joey pairings, what are they called anyway?Lol. this was almost a puppyshipping story, but I decided to change it last minute because although I really do love puppyshipping, there are enough of those stories to placate me for the rest of my life.=) so give me some feedback and rate and review.

peace!

Chapter two preview

When Ryou woke up in the morning, there were two things that he noticed. One was that his favorite pillow (which was really his cherished childhood blanket sewn together) was covered in a combination of snot and tears. {a.n: I'm really sorry about that, but it's a logical thing that would really happen.} 'Okay, that's really disgusting,' he thought while his face was twisted up in a hilarious mix of utter repulsion and confusion. Ryou picked up the tattered, worn out pillow by a corner with the tips of his index finger and thumb, wondering how to exactly deal with this repugnant situation. Cautious of the dark crusty snot marks that littered his prized possession, he walked out his bedroom and downstairs into the laundry room across from the kitchen. Tossing the pillow into the washing machine, he was about to leave, but then decided to throw in his shirt as well. As soon as he carefully poured in some laundry detergent, he closed the washing machine and walked into the kitchen. 'I can't shake this feeling that there's something I'm supposed to be doing right now', Ryou thought, slightly annoyed. He half-heartedly glanced around the kitchen, expecting the nagging feeling to have a correlation with some object in there; but when his eyes met the clock he let out a whimper of surprise. "Holy hell I'm going to be late!" Ryou screamed shrilly as he ran upstairs to grab his backpack and change clothes. What Ryou didnt know was that a couple blocks away, a certain honey blonde, brown eyed boy was also facing the same problem.

Authors note 2: okay so i really dont know how good/ bad this is and nobody ever reviews to tell me if im good or suck. so i need you (yes you, you right there, with the face) to tell me if i should quit writing and stick to reading fanfiction (in which case i'll know i suck) or keep writing (which will make me think that i'm at least capable of the bare minimum of writing standards, but i'll keep doing it nonetheless). so thanks for reading this: review and talk to me peoples!


	2. not your average wake up call

Chapter two

When Ryou woke up the next morning, there were two things that he noticed. One was that his favorite pillow (which was really his cherished childhood blanket sewn together) was covered in a combination of dried up stains and tears. {a.n: I'm really sorry about that, but it's a logical thing that would really happen.} 'Okay, that's really disgusting,' Ryou thought while his face was twisted up in a hilarious mix of utter repulsion and confusion. 'How did I not notice how raggedy my blankie* was before right now?' the timid white hair boy asked himself, astounded at the fact that he could really be that clueless. "Time to channel my inner Joey," Ryou laughed, thinking about how different he and his adventurous friend were. If there was anyone in his so-called clique that he aspired to be like, it was Joey Wheeler. The way that the blonde charged into anything without a second thought, his ability to make anyone laugh, but most of all, the way he put himself out in the world, how he was so relatable to others. Ryou smiled as he went through the whole list of traits that Joey held, but he himself could only dream of having. 'Well there's no use in trying to change my whole personality, but one small step couldn't hurt right?' he asked himself thoughtfully. .Daring himself to be brave and poke said blankie, he discovered that it was as stiff as a board. Ryou picked up the tattered, worn out pillow by a corner with the tips of his index finger and thumb, wondering how to exactly deal with this unwelcomed situation. Cautious of the dark crusty snot marks that littered his prized possession, he walked out his bedroom and downstairs into the laundry room across from the kitchen. Tossing the pillow into the wash, he was about to leave, but then decided to throw in his shirt as well, 'just for good measure,' he convinced himself good-naturedly.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Ryou hurried upstairs to find a shirt. There was no way in her Majesty the Queen's good grace that he was going to answer the door shirtless. Not when it could be Tea or Mai coming to pay him a visit anyway. He shuddered, thinking of what useless, frivolous things they always wanted to talk about. Just because he was the quiet shy one in the group didn't mean that he wanted to be the understanding therapist when 'boy troubles' or 'shopping' popped up in conversations. Ryou could only handle so much. Finding a suitable replacement shirt, which (much to all you readers' surprise) was white with blue horizontal stripes; Ryou scurried downstairs once again to open the door. Who he expected to see was Tristan or the girls, only because they alternated every other day to walk with him to school. The only time people from his group ever bothered with him was to protect him from getting kidnapped by serial rapists and pedophiles who were attracted to his 'bloody effeminate looks' as he so commonly nicknamed them. Ryou snorted in disbelief, the only reason they would miss him was because then they'd have no one to spill all their troubles and grief to. However, what poor 17 year old Ryou wasn't expecting, was a very disheveled, breathless, bruised and battered Joey Wheeler passed out on his doorstep…

~~~~~~~~~~~~``cliffhanger! haha I know you must hate me now. sorry for the shortness but it was all i could do today.I felt like I had to give ryou a slightly bitter personality because no one can be that sweet and nice and cheery all the time! but you'll have to wait til I update the next chappie to find out why this is important. peace!


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